The tremendous excitement surrounding the availability of WAP has produced a hype warning from some industry observers. There is a lot of misinformation indeed confusion about WAP at both ends of the commentary spectrum – those who are promoting WAP and WAP critics.
Lets set the record straight here and clarify some key
points. It has been incorrectly stated that WAP was built for "comfort not speed". In fact WAP is built for speed in addition to comfort asit takes into account the relatively low bandwidth of cellular networks and compensates for this in its architecture and mark up language. Commentators have (to their credit), noted that the availability of GPRS networks improves this position while adding the "always on" characteristic of a packet network. Packetisation of the networks cannot happen fast enough and Ericsson is pleased to advise that it has secured contracts providing GPRS network capabilities to network carriers serving some 95 million customers around the world.. WAP already supports IP bearers so as GPRS devices and networks become available the WAP standard is ready. Blaming WAP for the speed of the networks in the market does not make sense. WAP is designed to get the most from the network speeds by using bandwidth as efficiently as possible. Ericsson understands the demand for high-speed Internet
access will be the key driver for next generation implementation. This claim probably flows as much from the need to reduce WAP to terms for the consumer to understand hence "soon you will be able to surf the web from your mobile phone" type of articles in leading journals. Of course this begs the question ‘would you want to?’. One of the challenges in confronting the Mobile Internet is to determine a users context and the types of interaction required when mobile. It is highly unlikely that many users will want to research their PHD from a mobile phone while on their way to work but they may want to check the football results.
Too many commentators have done a "cut and paste"
on the Internet to the Mobile Internet, assuming that what is required in one
context is appropriate in another. Ericsson has consistently argued that WAP is
about timely and context relevant information delivery. WAP elements such as
push, location and wireless telephony application play directly to this
requirement. Ericsson recognises and advocates using (with user authorisation) the location of the mobile terminalto deliver valued information via WAP. Ericsson pioneered this in Australia with demonstrations of Tourism Victoria and Citysearch content delivered based on user position in a WAP environment. In Europe Ericsson is cooperating with the world famous Michelin Guide to match hotel information with user positions. Some commentators are far too pessimistic in suggesting that location information services are two years away. Carriers are evaluating deployable technologies now. Indeed Vodafone has just launched a location based restaurant guide in Australia. Sweden’s Telia Mobile AB and Ericsson announced on 26 June that they will jointly develop and supply positioning services. Within the WAP Forum there is already WAP Expert groups on location and telematics. The US government has mandated that network operators provide cellular positioning capabilities for emergency 911 situations. This is a tremendous encouragement to the industry in this field. Ericsson as a supplier of Mobile Location Systems and the leading supplier within the relevant standardisation bodies in this field is ready to supply technology now. Claim #4 "WAP lacks security" Can you ever have enough security? Some commentators have placed expectations on WAP security not being delivered commonly by today’s Internet. WAP today provides Wireless Transport Layer Security (equivalent of SSL / TLS in the Internet) in today’s specification. In the next WAP release end to end security incorporating PKI and digital signature technology is planned for release. At the end of the day the market will determine the appropriate level of security. Certainly for low value / high volume transactions WAP is ideally placed with micropayment solutions from Ericsson at least readily available. Evidence of the support for WAP by leading financial institutions is obvious from the membership of a new mobile e commerce forum Mobey
The Mobey Forum brings together the substantial expertise of
the world's leading online financial institutions and the leading companies in
mobile Internet technologies such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). The
Forum's founding members are ABN AMRO Bank, Bank antander Central Hispano, BNP
Paribas, Barclays, Citigroup, Detsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, MeritaNordbanken,
EB-Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, UBS, Visa International, Ericsson, Motorola
and Nokia. Other financial institutions and mobile phone technology companies
are also being encouraged to join the Forum. The uptake of WAP by content providers is actually quite staggering. This is particularly significant given that a true WAP WML script is only a relatively recent arrival. The major content players who have committed to WAP with offerings and or WAP membership include:
Through use of web crawler analysis from Pinpoint, growth in world WAP pages between December 99 and June 2000 has been measured. This growth is nothing short of staggering. In December, global WAP pages numbered 10,000 by July 2000 the number was over 3 million.
Ericsson recognised that content was critical when in 1999 we hosted a series of WAP roadshows in concert with the Australian Internet and Multimedia Industry Association (AIMIA) for Australian developers. We were subsequently reported by The Australian as being in a "Hunt for local WAP content" 24/8/99. Since then we have created the Ericsson Developer Zone which boasts over 700 application developers and partners to create content in concert with Ericsson. There are still some content issues that developers must deal withinter-operability of devices and gateways has caused some challenges for content however the introduction of interoperability testing regimes and certification by the WAP Forum addresses this issue. Ericsson is one of several suppliers contributing equipment to a WAP Forum pool against which equipment is tested for interoperability. Ericsson was just advised that the Ericsson R 320 is the first WAP phone to be certified by the WAP Forum for the interoperability pool. Another issue for content developers is the "walled garden" approach of some carriers which is limiting their prospective market reach. Claim #6 "WAP devices unavailable" Critics are looking at the past
when they criticise WAP Forum members on device support for WAP. WAP Forum
members constitute 95% of world mobile phone supply. Leading suppliers like
Ericsson have offerings in stores today, including the R320s mobile phone and
MC218 handheld computer.
Ericsson alone has announced a further four devices to have WAP microbrowsers. One of the recently annouced products, the Ericsson R 520 combines WAP, Bluetooth and GPRS in the one amazing product ("Communicasia" 6 June). At present - the demand for WAP devices outstrips supply as manufacturers gear up their global supply chains. So demand exceeds supply for WAP devices? This is hardly surprising at this stage of the adoption cycle but that should be cause for tremendous optimism about the prospects for WAP. Few of the suppliers are likely to allow the supply deficit to stand for long. There is no doubting the industry’s commitments to WAP devices. Claim #7 "It’s about phones and not devices" Some of the critics of WAP get hung up on screen sizes as a
basis for projections on WAP uptake. WAP certainly is for phones but also all
small computer devices such as ‘Palm’ type PDA’s, and digital assistants
such as Ericsson’s MC 218 and for emerging communicator type offerings. Some consumers need mostly voice capabilities with occasional WAP service. Others with greater Internet needs will prefer a communicator product such as the Ericsson R 380. Still others will have an Internet connected data only device and a separate voice device. The main proposition is that there will be device diversity to meet varied needs and applications. Device diversity and competition is empowered through an unlicensed open standards body such as the WAP Forum. Claim #8 "WAP, Mobile Internet and 3G are all the same" Some players see WAP as the Mobile Internet when in fact it’s an important element amongst many. Ericsson has strongly advocated that the Mobile Internet is enabled by the arrival of a range of technologies that together form the mobile Internet. We argue that technologies such as operating systems for wireless Internet devices such as EPOC, advances in devices themselves (power processor, browsers, form factor etc.), mobile IP networks (GPRS, Edge, 3G) Bluetooth, mobile positioning systems, mobile e commerce solutions, applications and content environments such as WAP comprise the Mobile Internet. Some observers have suggested that when we have 3G the need for WAP goes away. Presumably the basis for this is that it is no longer necessary to have a purpose built and efficient mark up language such as WAP’s Wireless Markup Language (WML) because with 3G we will have "bandwidth to burn". Leave aside for a second bearer support in non IP legacy networks and leave aside WAP microbrowsers for the peculiarities of mobile phones. Leave aside for a second unique elements of WAP such as push, location and wireless telephony applications lets just consider the bandwidth issue. In the UK carriers paid some 31 billion pounds for 3G spectrum in that market. In Australia the forecast of the Federal Government is $2.6 billion for this market. It is quite clear that shareholders will demand that that valuable asset is efficiently utilised. Unless someone can change the laws of physics, spectrum is valuable and bandwidth must be used efficiently in either a 2G or 3G environment. WAP will have an important role in delivering application bandwidth efficiency in a 3G environment. Claim #9 "WAP has to be perfect now" Some critics of WAP appear to have looked at the WAP development plan and then republished that as a list of deficiencies of the standard. Features like WML push, location based WAP services, Wireless telephony application, and secure e commerce are either currently implemented (push is available in 1.2 WAP and location based services can be implemented without WAP support) or are planned for future releases. WAP already defines the WAP equivalent of SSL / TLS called Wireless Transport Layer Security. Just as a Netscape browser at version 1.0 differs markedly from today’s offerings WAP will evolve and become more feature rich. Lets not forget that as regards WAP phones they will be sold first as voice devices with additional browser functionality. Betting against a rapidly increasing base of WAP clients is like betting that people will cease having a need for voice telephony. Conclusion A number of prominent commentators such as OVUM, IDC and others are very bullish on the prospects for the Mobile Internet. "There will be 1.5 billion mobile subscribers by 2006 684 million of which will use microbrowser enabled services" says OVUM. Ericsson sees this as an important endorsement of the Ericsson strategy to "Mobilise the Internet". WAP is an important element of the mobilisation of the Internet together with Mobile IP networks (GPRS / Edge / 3G), Bluetooth, Mobile positioning systems, mobile e commerce, and mobile device operating systems (such as EPOC). Certainly it is time for us to form a realistic - an informed understanding of WAP. Andrew McLorinan
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